Saturday, October 4, 2008

I've visited this theme before but can't seem to get enough. I don't know enough about the history of comic book superheroes to know how this got started, but I assume that at some point someone decided to dress these guys this way and the whole thing just got out of hand.

I can imagine coming up with a hero like Superman (was he the first of this sort?) and designing his powers (flying, strength, x-ray vision) constructing his past (alien planet on verge of collapse, father sends baby into space to save him) creating his life on Earth (newspaper reporter, mild-mannered do-gooder). But when it comes time to decide how he will dress, what in the galaxy of possibilities makes you then decide to go with what is essentially a ballet costume with curtains?

Once the trend starts, other artists build on the concept and before you know it, you've got a gay pride parade. I have long suspected there was quite a lot of thinly disguised homosexuality going on with comic book heroes (not that there's anything wrong with that), and I was not the first to think so. I am amused any time someone can sneak "subversiveness" past censors and trot it out for the unsuspecting mainstream.

18 comments:

The first union-suited comic book character was probably The Phantom. He first appeared in 1936. Superman appeared in 1938, followed by Batman in 1939. I suspect the idea was to create a fully clothed hero that, while complying with the morals of the day, was able to also show off his physique. But hey, I'm just making educated guesses.

Kind of like you sneaked your subliminal labial rabbit into the papers?

I agree with you about comic book heroes and homosexuality. How else do we explain Batman and Robin? Did Bruce and Dick (Bruce and Dick!) live together in stately Wayne Manor? That was never clear on the original TV show. They have toned B&R down considerably since, but I am sure they were pulling a fast one on the censors back then. Still the best B&R ever.

=v= I always figured the superhero costume was based on trapeze artists, but I may have been influenced by the origin story of Dick Grayson.

There was a big stink back in the 1950s about a suspected gay subtext between Batman and Robin, but I think Michael Chabon hit the nail on the head in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay: the man/boy superhero teams were never about that, they were about boys who'd lost their fathers in WWII

jym: Costume based on trapeze suit.isee3dtoo: Great-grand-pa was circus performer in circa 1900 wore same type of costume.eben: superman based on circus strongman.penny: jym makes sense but not all ballet dancers are gay.isee3dtoo: ballet dance stuff tights with socks.doug: bruce lee died of aids.

Isee3dtoo,any male ballet dancer needs a huge set of clackers just to deal with all the crap he will get from his friends. i got/get the works just because i took/take piano lessons, imagine what it's like for a guy especially a straight guy doing ballet? of course it's a stereotype, but it has a basis in fact, and if a straight guy really thought about it what better way to get with HOT babes than in a ballet class. the odds are all stacked in his favor.

I guess it depends on if that poetry goes well with a guitar or not. What more is a song than poetry set to music. There have been many a cowboy poet and they weren't looked down on even in their own time. Rhyming or not it is the content of the poetry that would cause the teasing or not. If you believe the marketers of today ( and FAR too many people do) no guy wants his buddies to find out he write love poems to his lady. However, if he is writing dirty limericks, he'll share them with everyone he can.